


A Dozen Marriage Proposals

by mfingenius



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Damen is a mess, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Humor, M/M, he's not in this basically, or is dead, the regent dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mfingenius/pseuds/mfingenius
Summary: “I speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart.” Damen says, and he can feel all of the eyes in the room turn to him.It’s late afternoon, and he’s in the library waiting for Auguste; it’s nearly empty, except for a blonde pet sitting by the window. He’s blonde, and gorgeous, and curled up reading a thick book on Akielon culture; Damen’s surprised, he assumed pets weren’t able to wonder around freely. He must be Auguste’s pet, surely, if he’s able to go where he wants, four guards with him.“Excuse me?” The blonde’s cheeks are flushed now.“Ah, Damen.” Auguste walks into the room, and a grin enters his face when he sees the blonde; definitely his pet then. “I see you’ve met Laurent. Laurent, this is Damen. Damen, this is my brother.”
Relationships: Auguste & Damen (Captive Prince), Auguste & Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 77
Kudos: 272





	1. Chapter 1

“I speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart.” Damen says, and he can _feel_ all of the eyes in the room turn to him.

It’s late afternoon, and he’s in the library waiting for Auguste; it’s a big place, and nearly empty, except for a blonde pet sitting by the window. He’s blonde, and gorgeous, and curled up reading a thick book on Akielon culture; Damen’s surprised, he assumed pets weren’t able to wonder around freely. He must be Auguste’s pet, surely, if he’s able to go where he wants, four guards with him.

“Excuse me?” The blonde’s cheeks are flushed now, and Damen doesn’t understand why he’s angry. It’s not _bad_ , it’s merely an observation. And it’s not like he doesn’t speak Akielon well, he does, Damen just speaks better Veretian.

“Ah, Damen.” Auguste walks into the room, and a grin enters his face when he sees the blonde; definitely his pet then. “I see you’ve met Laurent. Laurent, this is Damen. Damen, this is my brother.”

“Your brother,” Damen repeats, both realization and dread filling his stomach; he just told the second prince of Vere he speaks better than him. He just called the second prince of Vere _sweetheart_.

“Yes,” Laurent says, cheeks still flushed but eyebrow arched high. The guards are all looking somewhere between disbelieving and highly amused. Damen feels his cheeks beginning to burn, and thanks all gods that it won’t be visible on his dark skin. “ _Prince_ Laurent.”

“Of course,” Damen says, bowing nervously. He’s never bowed to Auguste, but they’re friends, and Damen doesn’t know Laurent from anything. “I - Auguste had said you wouldn’t _be_ here.”

“Plans changed,” Auguste says, frowning lightly at Damen. He looks between them. “Is there a problem?”

Damen doesn’t know how to answer, and is saved when Laurent answers for him.

“No, of course not.” Laurent says, and Damen doesn’t know if the prince of Vere isn’t telling his brother because he’d rather kill him himself, later. Painfully. “Everything’s alright.”

And he stands and stretches, signaling his guards. 

“I’m going for a ride.” He says. “You can entertain your... _guest_.”

And he leaves the library.

* * *

It seems that Laurent is always with a book. Damen has seen him during meals and conversations alike with his nose buried, politely entertaining courtiers when he must, but otherwise avoiding speaking to anyone.

Still, somehow, he seems to have half the courtiers, all of the foreign nobility, and the entirety of the guard charmed; Damen hears no less than fifteen drunken marriage proposals to Laurent and a dozen ‘joking’ marital propositions to Auguste; each time, the person highlighting what they could give Auguste in exchange for letting them marrying Laurent, and then laughing to badly disguise their seriousness. 

“You should be here during his birthday feast,” Auguste says, when Damen mentions it. “There’s twice the proposals and at least three hundred gifts.”

Damen doesn’t say it, but he doesn’t understand _why_. Sure, the prince is gorgeous - honestly, entirely breathtaking in a way that makes Damen want to cry - but he thinks he’s... well, _boring_. He spends all day reading and barely speaks. He doesn’t get it.

* * *

Three days later, he gets it.

Oh, he gets it. Auguste is stuck in meetings all day, so he tells Damen to go to Laurent, that he’ll entertain him, and Damen goes because he doesn’t want to insult his friend.

“Alright,” Laurent says, voice like molten honey when Damen tells him that Auguste is too busy for him. “I’ll show you Arles.”

Damen is shocked by how well Laurent knows Arles. As a crown prince, Damen spends as much time as he can with his people, but it is, regrettably, not enough to know his city in the way Laurent seems to know Vere.

“I make sure to get out regularly,” Laurent shrugs, when Damen asks, a little awed. “Auguste can’t, often enough.”

He watches, breathless, as Laurent talks to the people of Arles and they _know_ him, _trust_ him, watches him show little girls magic tricks, watches him play with the children and speak to the adults about the things they’re concerned about.

He introduces Damen, and, when they don’t trust him - he’s much taller than an average Veretian, and has at least a head and a half on Laurent - he reassures them, and understands them, and _cares_ about it.

They meet up with a cloth merchant named Charls, who speaks only of good things about Laurent, but, in contrast to the courtiers and the guard, doesn’t look starry eyed in-love, simply highly respectful and just a little bit adoring. 

“He doesn’t use this much cloth,” Charls tells Damen, like a secret, when Laurent is surveying the cloth samples on the other side of the room. “He gives it away.”

And it’s true; Laurent pays Charls handsomely, and then gives cloth away to the citizens. By the time they get to the palace, all of it is gone, even though Laurent had bought more than plenty.

Damen is just a little bit in love.

“Oh no.” Auguste says, when Damen goes to his rooms to tell him about how he spent the day. “I know that look. Not you, too.”

Damen says, “I didn’t know he was... like _that_. Can you blame me?”

“No, I guess not.” Auguste sighs, resigned. Then he groans. “Gods, I love Laurent, but he’s going to start a war one day.”

Damen wouldn’t mind going to war for Laurent.

Auguste clearly knows what he’s thinking, because he shoots Damen a look and says, “ _Don’t_.” 

* * *

Damen’s growing feelings for Laurent are cemented further when Laurent puts him on his ass in the dirt.

“I’d heard you were better than this,” Laurent remarks mildly, extending Damen a hand. Damen takes it and stands, picking up his sword.

“I am,” He admits. He _is_ , really, he’s just - distracted. _Very_ distracted.

“Don’t hold back on me,” Laurent says, and he’s frowning. “I don’t want you to do that.”

“Alright,” Damen says. He concentrates, and, this time, he knocks Laurent’s sword out of his hand and has his back pressed against the sawdust; Laurent is an excellent swordfighter, and he does put up a fight. It makes Damen admire him even more. “Was that what you wanted?”

Some people - nobility in particular - don’t take well to losing; Damen hopes Laurent is not one of them, but he wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he stomped away angrily. Instead, Laurent gets a furrow between his brows, and looks at the tip of Damen’s sword against his neck.

“Teach me,” he says, and Damen grins.


	2. Chapter 2

“Prince Damianos.” Laurent tips his head. “I have a proposition for you, if you would be amenable.”

“Of course.” Damen is only too eager to make space for Laurent next to him; he and Auguste are going riding in a moment, but Auguste had forgotten something in his chambers and had to go back. Damen never expected for Prince Laurent to come into his rooms. “What can I help you with?”

“Marriage,” Laurent says. “Between us.”

Damen’s heart stutters. “Excuse me?”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, as a prince, even a second born, I must marry to someone of high nobility,” Laurent says; his tone - and his words - are logical, but Damen cannot believe he’s speaking seriously. 

“Prince Laurent, I am flattered,” he says, and he is; he’s spent half of the time he’s been here daydreaming about Laurent, and the other half actually dreaming about him. He is attracted to him in a way he has never been before to someone else, but he never would’ve thought Prince Laurent held any attraction to him. “You have dozens of suitors. Are they not to your tastes?”

The corner of Laurent’s lips lifts. “They drool.”

Damen isn’t sure if he’s being serious or not, but he could be; he did actually see various people drooling over Laurent in the last dinner.

“You, Prince Damianos, do not,” Laurent continues. “You are a Crown Prince, and your country will allow you to keep slaves even if we are married, which will ensure you are - satisfied, if not with me. It is said you are just, and Auguste considers you a friend. You are... adequate.”

Damen stares at him; never in his life has he been called adequate. Everyone seems to be eager to compliment him, people - his soldiers and fellow nobility alike - enjoy his company and consider him a friend. This? This is entirely out of Damen’s area of expertise.

“I-” he begins, confused, and then doesn’t know how to continue.

“I do not expect an answer now,” Laurent says. He is carrying a book in his right hand; he is always carrying a book. Damen thinks of him in the streets of Arles, thinks of the happy flush on his face when he comes back from riding. “You can think it over.”

“You love it here,” he says, and it’s the only thing he can think about. “Why would you want to come with me?”

Laurent blinks at him, entirely stunned; it seems, for the first time in this conversation, he is the one left speechless.

“I-” he hesitates, blinking again. “Why would you care about that?”

Damen frowns. “Do you think I want you to be unhappy for the rest of your life?”

“I did not think you would care about something as menial as my happiness,” Laurent admits; he seems to be entirely out of his depth, unsure and hesitating in a way Damen hasn’t seen him before. “Auguste is the only one that does.”

“Then why would I be worth marrying?” Damen asks.

Laurent stares at him.

“I’m here!” Auguste comes in and looks at the two of them, and then cocks an eyebrow. “What is happening?”

“Nothing,” Laurent says, slowly. He’s looking at Damen oddly, like he’s never seen him before and is not sure if he should be wary or step closer. A flush is beginning to rise on his cheeks. “I - you must excuse me. Auguste, Prince Damianos.”

And with that, he makes his way out of the room.

“What happened?” Auguste asks, looking at Damen and then at where Laurent disappeared through the door. 

“I have no idea,” Damen says honestly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unexpected second part requested to my tumblr :D  
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mfingenius.tumblr.com/) :D

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading! This was requested to my tumblr (@mfingenius). Feel free to pop over and make a request :D


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